Receipts
Every year, an estimated 250 billion paper receipts are offered US customers. Many are automatically printed, declined by customers, and collected for disposal. Concerns have been raised about BPA in thermal paper and some municipalities do not permit thermal paper in recycling streams. What can be done to reduce this annoyance and the waste stream? In some cases, simply changing the store policy to print upon demand will reduce receipt printing by an estimated factor of 30 in campus coffee shops and markets.
This group meets alternate Wednesdays 10:30 Union South. Contact Rachel via the website below to get involved.
Website
http://sustainability.wisc.edu/receipt-reduction/
Humor
I got a receipt for a donut https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWx6uA5aCrE
Resources
IRS on record keeping http://www.irs.gov/publications/p552/ar02.html
Bisphenol A (BPA) in thermal paper http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/sya-bpa/
Thermal printing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_printing
Retail sales data http://www.economagic.com/cenret.htm#USRet_SA
"Bisphenol A Alternatives in Thermal Paper" http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/bpa/aa-for-bpa-full-version.pdf from BPA Alternatives in Thermal Paper Partnership http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/bpa/milestones.htm
BPA free thermal paper (Appvion, Appleton WI) http://www.appvion.com/en-us/products/thermal/Pages/default.aspx, http://www.appvion.com/en-us/products/thermal/Documents/Therm_BPA_Free_Statement.pdf
Embedded Red Fibers Now Make BPA-Free Receipt Paper Easy to Spot, http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/embedded-red-fibers-now-make-bpa-free-receipt-paper-easy-to-spot-106894398.html
Communicating to Inspire Change and Sustainability (Bret Shaw, Bioneers 2013) http://issuu.com/sustaindane2013/docs/bioneers_10_05_13_v3
e-receipts technologies
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/08/24/walmart-best-buy-kill-paper-receipts, http://www.mcx.com/
Participants
Carlsmith
Rachel Feil, LEED AP BD+C, Communications Coordinator - Office of Sustainability, Writing Editor - The Wisconsin Engineer Magazine, Civil Engineering & Environmental Studies Undergraduate, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Kyla Kaplan, Spring 2014 intern for ASM on the Sustainability Committee
Andrea Perkins, REthink.org
Consultant: Bret Shaw, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Life Sciences Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 608-890-1878, brshaw@wisc.edu, http://lsc.wisc.edu/index.php/faculty-staff/faculty/bret-shaw
Showcase 2014 Poster
